Angela Rayner has played down the prospect of a backlash among her own MPs at the government’s housebuilding push as she launched a task force for a series of new towns across the UK.
The deputy prime minister – who yesterday announced a shake-up of the planning system to pave the way for 1.5 million new homes over the next five years – sought to dampen suggestions that her own newly elected MPs could oppose the mandatory targets if they proved unpopular in local areas.
Ms Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, told MPs yesterday the government was restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities after they were scrapped by the Conservatives.
She said the annual target would be increased from 300,000 homes to just over 370,000.
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Asked by reporters on Tuesday whether she was “gearing up for a fight” with Labour MPs and councils over the new measures, the deputy prime minister replied: “Well, Labour councils and Labour MPs know that we’ve got a housing crisis and they’ve been very supportive of our manifesto pledge, which was 1.5 million homes, and knowing full well that that meant we had to really drive that.
“What we need is all areas [is] to recognise the crisis we have and then do something about it, and we’re going to help them do that by driving through these changes so that we get the houses we desperately need.”
Pressed again on whether Labour MPs might oppose new homes if they were not supported by constituents, Ms Rayner argued that “driving forward mandatory local plans means that they will have greater engagement with local communities”.
“I think the biggest challenge when I’ve spoken to communities is that often these houses are not for them,” she said.
“They are executive homes, they can’t have the affordability. It’s not there for them.”
Her words come as the government launched an expert task force to spearhead Labour’s plans for a fresh…
